While I would really like to start with the most impressive pictures, I decided it's better to go date by date in chronological order.
So, this is our first walk into the almost pure wilderness. I say 'almost' cause I'm not quite sure if there's any pure wilderness left on the planet, but I guess it is as wild there as it's possible nowadays.
Everybody here is checking if we are still on the track – one of those very rare moments when I had a couple of seconds to take my camera out of the bag. Others were filming pauses and snack breaks, so I have hundreds of pictures of Dima and Lena eating or setting up a drone (you'll probably see).
We hiked something from 35 to 45 kilometers that day and to be honest by the end of it I almost wanted to die (or at least go back home). Partly it's because of pu'er tea guys brought. Combined with the hard work it got me to lose my breath and made my heart trying to jump out my chest. Fortunately we already got to our daily destination by then. Fortunately there were no serious consequences, except that I couldn't drink any tea for a couple of weeks, I can hardly drink coffee even now and I will never ever drink pu'er again. Pine needle infusion and lemon water are my drinks of choice now.
Of course, it wasn't pu'er fault. It was my fault. Almost every day there, on Kamchatka, taught me some valuable lesson. The lesson of this day was: don't try (or at least be careful with) what you're not sure about. Especially combined with hard physical work. Especially when you're in the middle of a run (and in the middle of nowhere) and you don't have time to stop.
Luckily not every day went like this. It was actually one of the hardest days in the whole adventure. Pity I didn't know it then.
I'm looking forward to the feast your photos and stories are going to give us.
You are right there is no pure wilderness left, but you have been where so very few will ever go (and should ever go), and this is something I am so glad to share with you!
I looked up that tea, and I'm now going to be wary if it is offered me anywhere but at home :)
@kali66 yes, there were a lot of bears around and some of them didn't hesitate to come closer. It was usually loaded with a signal flare, which is very useful to scare a bear away but couldn't do any serious damage. But even though we had a couple of challenging encounters, we didn't get to use it once this time.
You are right there is no pure wilderness left, but you have been where so very few will ever go (and should ever go), and this is something I am so glad to share with you!
I looked up that tea, and I'm now going to be wary if it is offered me anywhere but at home :)